30 Years In Belegost
by Shannanigans121901
Summary: Sorcha always wanted to be a warrior, and to go on adventures with the other warriors. Those dreams were all shattered when the wargs attacked. Now she has to make a new life for herself in The Blue Mountains. It's a shame no one ever told her not all warriors wield swords or axes. (KilixOC)
1. The Little Warrior

**Okay, so new Hobbit story! I'm not sure how the mixture between movie verse and book verse is going to go, but it'll be a mixture when we get to that point. For now though the only thing I own is Sorcha and Glynis. We all know where The Hobbit comes from, and the song lyrics are an edited version of The Foggy Dew as performed by The Chieftains. **

The road to The Blue Mountains was proving to be a long one for the large company of dwarves. There was about twenty of them, all gathered by close friends of Thorin Oakenshield; the purpose of this company was to reach the new dwarven settlement within The Blue Mountains.

Sorcha was the youngest member of this company, at the tender age of only five the other members of the company saw her as practically being a new born. On top of that, Sorcha was the only she-dwarf in their company, besides her mother, and many of the other dwarves had never seen such a young she-dwarf before. Because of this Sorcha, and her mother, were kept in the middle of the company when the traveled, for both of their protection, and they were the only members not expected to rotate on the lines.

Sorcha represented a lot to the company. The Blue Mountains was a fairly new settlement, she-dwarves probably wouldn't come tell it had been well established, meaning Sorcha and her mother were a very valuable addition to the city. Sorcha's father had died not long ago, Sorcha was unable to meet him, but her mother was a rather handy rock smith. Glynis, as she was known, had even worked under the apprenticeship of a master rock smith of Erebor. Truly both were going to make very fine additions to the new settlement.

There was a little more to Sorcha's importance than that though. Sorcha may very well be the last child to be born to two dwarves from Erebor; she may be the last to grow up on first-hand accounts of the great dwarven city from a parent. She shined with all the greatness of a child of Erebor. Her mother taught her the songs of Erebor, and Sorcha had learned many of the unique traditions that the city had had. She shined like a bright beacon to those that feared the ways of Erebor might be lost, and for that there wasn't a single dwarf in the company that wouldn't encourage the young, she-dwarf's happiness.

The company had been traveling for four days, by foot, but the journey promised still almost a week's worth of travel. They were almost across the lowlands, they had hoped to be able to finish traversing the lowlands before they stopped for the night, but as the sun began to disappear from the sky they knew they didn't have enough time to finish that particular stretch of their journey before night fall.

They had stopped to make camp in a rather large clearing. The dwarves had spread out, but all were in view of each other. At the very edge of the camp was a camp fire circle by four of who Sorcha called, "the warrior dwarves." These four were the friends of Thorin that he had sent to retrieve all those willing to help them make the settlement. Sorcha was with her mother, in the center of the camp. Normally all she-dwarves would be in the center, but Sorcha and Glynis were the only females. Glynis was stirring a pot of some sort of stew for tonight's meal, while Sorcha sat impatiently watching her mother cook.

"Can I go play with the warriors," Sorcha asked, she was tiring of kicking the stump she was sitting on, and her mother had stopped teaching her songs for the day.

"No Sorcha, they are busy. How can they protect us with you distracting them," her mother asked, not turning from the pot, "maybe they'll let you sit with them while they eat later."

"But mom, I'm bored now," complained Sorcha as looked up at the darkening sky, "what if I only watched what they were doing, and didn't talk to them?"

Glynis laughed, "Sorcha dear, why not talk to some of the other dwarves. There are plenty of dwarves not occupied like the warriors are?"

"I guess I could," Sorcha looked around at all the different dwarves, all doing things that matched their craft. Some were simply sharing stories about their craft, and all the things they had achieved. Some that worked with leather were threading shoes, or fixing any overly worn clothes from the journey. Sorcha looked to the fire closest to the warriors; Bofur was sitting whittling away at a piece of wood. A smile spread across Sorcha's face as she thought of the perfect way to please both herself and her mother, "I'm going to go talk to Bofur, he is whittling!"

"Okay," her mother said as she clicked her cooking spoon against the side her pot. "Wait, Bofur is serving as a warrior," she said as she looked towards Sorcha. Sorcha however had already ran away pleased with her success, letting out only an amused laugh as her mother called out to her. Glynis shook her head, but let her daughter's antics slid when she noticed Bofur in the distance, who was indeed whittling.

"Bofur," Sorcha called out as she neared his seat. Sorcha was on a full out charge towards Bofur, and all the dwarves she passed spared the running child a small smile as they moved out of her way. Bofur looked up just in time to accept the hug from the charging child while preventing her from colliding with his carving tools.

"Sorcha," Bofur exclaimed, his face that had been one of perfect concentration lightened at the child. Bofur was one of the dwarves that Sorcha greatly enjoyed the company of. Of course while there was a few reasons for that one reason seemed to be above the others, "I made something for you today."

"Really," Sorcha asked, her face brightened as she tried to look at the figure Bofur had in his hands, "what is it?"

"I'm afraid it isn't ready yet," Bofur said as he hid the unfinished toy in his bag.

"That wasn't very nice, Bofur," Sorcha pouted as she looked at the whittler.

Bofur laughed at the girl, "how was your day Sorcha," he asked to change the subject.

Sorcha sat down next to him and looked at the fire for a moment. She was a short girl, so she could still sway her legs back and forth as she stared at the fire. As she began to chew on the side of her cheek she thought of her entire day. Bofur looked at her with curiosity for few moments before she suddenly turned to him with a cheerful light to her honey brown eyes. Bofur raised his eyebrows as her dark auburn braids hit his arm with the speed of her movement, "It was good, mom taught me a new song!"

"Oh really," Bofur asked, "what song would that be?"

"Mary Mac," Sorcha looked very proud of her achievement, "I can even sing it five verses fast!" Bofur laughed, causing Sorcha to frown as she reached out and poked his dimples, "what's so funny?"

"It's just an odd song for a babe to know," Bofur winked at her, as he did some of the other warrior dwarves came up from behind them.

"What is an odd song?" Coming into the glow of the fire was the two brother warriors that Sorcha had always seen, but never really talked to. Behind them was Bifur. Bifur was another person she liked being around, because although he didn't say much, he was a great listen, and never told her to leave him alone. Sometimes he would even carry her on his shoulders as she told him stories, or sang songs, that her mother taught her.

"The Little Warrior Princess has learned Mary Mac," Bofur looked over to Sorcha, who appeared to be pouting, "what's wrong, lass?"

"I'm not a baby," Sorcha said very matter of fact like to Bofur before she stuck out her tongue at him.

Bofur simply laughed as the two brothers looked on in amusement, Bifur remained his usual stoic self, "you should sing it for us," Bofur encouraged as he leaned forward on his knees.

The other dwarves seemed to agree. Now normally Sorcha would be more than happy to show off the new songs she had learned from her mother, but the two new warrior brothers made her slightly nervous, at least Sorcha thought the little twirls in her stomach were the cause of nervousness.

"I don't know," she said with a slight blush to her cheeks as she looked at the two smiling brothers.

"But Sorcha, you have such a lovely voice," said Bofur encouragingly. Sorcha looked up at him and felt a surge of confidence at his truthful smile.

Sorcha opened her mouth to start singing but she was interrupted by her mother stepping near the circle with four bowels of stew in her arms, "Sorcha dear, I half expected you to be somewhere else by now," Glynis began to pass out the bowels to the men, all of which gave her a nod of thanks, "she isn't bothering you boys is she?"

"Oh no, not at all," said Bofur as he spooned some of the stew into his mouth, "we enjoy the girl's presence, don't we boys," the two brothers nodded and Bifur simply grunted in agreement. Sorcha felt her blush strengthen as she looked at the brothers, mainly the one with brunette hair and stubble where his beard should be. Sorcha had never seen a dwarf without a beard before, and for some reason this one seemed to fascinate her and draw her in. She wondered if all beardless dwarves were this way.

"I'm glad she hasn't been a bother to you; however, it's time for Sorcha to go to sleep," Glynis said as she placed a hand on Sorcha's shoulder.

"But mom," Sorcha protested as she dug her finger nails into the log she was sitting on, "I'm not tired at all!"

"Hush," her mother demanded and she lifted her child up, leaving small scratch marks behind on the wood, "all children need rest."

Sorcha began pouting again, "I'm not a child, "she grumbled.

"Of course you aren't," sighed Glynis as she lifted Sorcha up so that she rested on her hip, "come on, you can play more tomorrow."

"You always say that," said Sorcha defiantly crossing her arms, her mother ignored her though as she began to walk off.

"Good night, Sorcha," called Bofur to the two figures that were retreating back towards the center of the camp.

It took a few moments before a, "Good night, Bofur," was heard back from the girl.

Sorcha had quickly succumbed to sleep that night, much as her mother had expected she would. Her sleep however did not go uninterrupted. It was early morning, so early that the sky had already become tinged with many shades of pink; the morning had a silent danger to it. The warriors noticed this, and slowly they began to wake as many of the others up as they could without raising too much alarm.

They weren't fast enough however, and the dwarves weren't ready, even after the warning call, "Wargs!"

Although Sorcha wasn't quick to wake, her mother was. In a matter of moments Glynis had scooped Sorcha up into her arms and was hoisting her up a nearby tree, "stay here till I come back for you," her mother said as Sorcha, who was now very much awake, climbed the tree.

Once Glynis was satisfied with how high in the tree her daughter was she ran off to grab a weapon in attempt to help the other dwarves fight off the wargs. Sorcha closed her eyes as she held onto the tree tightly, trying to ignore the cries of the dwarves around her.

Sorcha did, however, not go unnoticed, and in a small matter of moments a warg had begun to scratch at her tree viciously. The bark splintered underneath the warg's paw, and Sorcha felt a scream slip from her lips as the tree started to lean with weakness.

Suddenly a cry came from the warg and it fell to the side with an arrow sticking out of the side of its head, "Sorcha!" Sorcha looked down to see the beardless dwarf from earlier. "Jump to me," he called up to her as he held out his arms to show that he would catch her.

"B-but, mother said."

"We don't have time Sorcha," the man said as he moved his arms, stressing his point, "jump to me."

Sorcha gulped, swallowing the knot that had formed in her throat, before she slipped down from the tree into the arms of the man below. He never flinched as he caught her, and when he set her onto the ground he simply grabbed her hand before he started running, not once saying another word.

Sorcha tried not to look around at the fighting dwarves and wargs around her. This proved to be a mistake though as a warg suddenly jumped through the fire of battle and tackled Sorcha to the ground and out of the man's grasp.

Time seemed to slow down as Sorcha looked up into the snarling face of the warg. The look of hatred in its eyes had entranced her so that she was frozen stiff; she hadn't even heard the startled cry that came from the beardless dwarf as she fell. Time continued to slow as he readied his bow, now racing with the wargs jaws, which were already dangerously close to her shoulder. Sorcha saw this though, and was able to brace herself for the searing pain that came from her shoulder as the warg sank its teeth into her. The warg began to thrash before the he had let loose an arrow into its skull. The warg's grip loosened as her shoulder was released from its bite, but it was too late and the damage had been done.

"Sorcha, no," the beardless dwarf said as he picked her up before he started to run again, "Fili cover!"

"Aye, Kili," said the blonde dwarf from earlier, Fili followed behind them, swinging his sword at any warg that dare try to approach his brother and the girl.

"It hurts," Sorcha mumbled as she leaned her head into Kili's neck. It had been her right shoulder that had been bitten, and it was bleeding badly all over Kili's jacket, not that he cared. His attention was on getting the girl away from the wargs as quickly as he could.

"Think of something else," he said to her.

Sorcha tried to distract herself by playing with Kili's hair, "you have no braids," she whimpered weakly, her voice hadn't cracked, but it was obviously growing weaker. Kili didn't respond to the girl, but he did hold her a little tighter against himself. Sorcha leaned fully on his shoulder, abandoning his hair she clutched onto his shirt.

"Keep her talking Kili," called Fili from behind them. Fili was just as worried as Kili was for the girl, the wound was large, and was bleeding excessively.

"What are you thinking about Sorcha," Kili asked, sparing her a small glance.

Their warm brown eyes meet for a split second, "you smell nice," she said absent mindedly.

Kili felt a small chuckle escape him, "oh really, and how do I smell."

Sorcha looked away from him and rubbed her head into his shoulder, "you smell like a mountain when it's really early in the morning."

"You've never been to the mountains Sorcha," Kili joked with her. It was a fact that Sorcha had never been to the mountains before. She had been born and raised in a human city before the start of their journey.

"Mom always told me about how good the mountains smelled in the morning," Sorcha said, "she said there wasn't a single smell that could ever be as good."

Kili felt a small smile creep onto his face, "I'm glad you think so than, Sorcha," it had been an unexpected compliment, one Kili hadn't received before.

"Do you like music Kili," Sorcha asked, her voice cracked with weakness as she spoke.

"Very much so," Kili said, "don't we all like music?"

"I know mother really likes music," Sorcha had returned to playing with Kili's hair, "she would always sing to me when something was going wrong. Do you know any songs?"

"I know a few," Kili said, he hadn't noticed that she was running her fingers through a small section of his hair.

"Why don't you sing me one? Bofur spoke highly of your singing voice," Kili asked, trying to keep it so Sorcha wouldn't be tempted to fall asleep.

"But I'm tired Kili," she said. Her shoulder had yet to stop bleeding, and the need to sleep begun to seem really inviting.

"Just a little longer Sorcha, I know it hurts, but if you sing you might feel a little better," Kili pleased with her.

"Okay," Sorcha said as she began to separate the section of hair she has been running her hand through into three strands, "what kind of song do you want to hear?"

"Any kind," Kili had reached the point when it truly didn't matter to him. He just wanted the girl to stay awake, "just sing."

"Okay," Sorcha said as she began to sing.

_As down the mount one Western morn_

_To a city fair rode I_

_There armed lines of marching men in squadrons passed me by_

_No pipe did hum, no battle drum, did sound its dread tattoo_

_But the angelic bells o'er the lonely hill rang out through the foggy dew_

_Right proudly high over the dwarven town_

_They hung out the flag of war_

'_Twas better to die with a battle cry _

_Than while wondering the foreign hills_

_And towards the mount of royal right_

_Strong men came hurrying to_

_While brutalious Orcs with their sharpened arms burst through the foggy dew_

Sorcha's voice was weakening as she sung, but she was determined to sing it right for Kili. As she sung she had begun to weave the three strands of Kili's hair to form a braid. Sorcha was skilled with such things, since her mother had always believed braids to be a thing every young she-dwarf should know much about. Because of this she had much practice and the movements of Kili's running didn't appear to be affecting the condition of the braids appearance.

_Oh the sky turned red_

_Still the men had not fled_

_In the ashy rain_

_Seven tongues of flame did shine o'er the lines of steel_

_By each shining blade a prayer was said_

_To their brethren may each dwarf be true_

_But when morning broke still the war flag shook out its folds in the foggy dew_

'_Twas Orcs bade the Durins be dead_

_That "dwarf nations might fall"_

_Their lonely graves by Moria's gates_

_Oh, had they died by Durin's side_

_Their graves we'd keep where the heroes sleep 'neath the shroud of the foggy dew_

By this point in time Sorcha had almost finished Kili's braid. She only needed to finish the knot that would hold it in place. She held the braid in one hand as she undid on of the rings from her hair. She paid close attention to which charm was on the ring of the braid she pulled from her hair. She seemed to care little as her braid fell apart in the wind as she secured Kili's new braid with the ring from her hair. Although Kili had yet to notice the delicate braid that Sorcha had been weaving, but since they had long left the wargs behind Fili had noticed the girl braiding Kili's hair, as she was holding it away from her should keeping any blood from getting on it.

_Oh the bravest fell_

_And the requiem bell rang mournfully and clear_

_For those who died that Western side in the spring time of the year_

_And the world did face in deep amaze at those fearless men but few_

_Who bare the fight that Moria's light might shine through the foggy dew_

_As back through the field I rode again and my heart with grief did sore_

_For I parted then with valiant men whom I never shall see more_

_But to and fro in my dreams I go and I kneel and pray for you_

_For Azog fled, O glorious dead, when you fell in the foggy dew_

"I think we can stop now," said Fili. Both dwarves stopped running at a small clearing. In the center there were some stones that looked left behind from a previous group of travelers. "We can rest here tell the others catch up."

Kill sat Sorcha down so that she was leaning against a tree, "you sing very well Sorcha, Bofur was right," his smile was warm and encouraging. Kili examined the girls highly injured shoulder. Kili pulled a small knife from his pocket, "do you mind if I cut off the sleeve?" Sorcha simply gazed back at him; she was having trouble comprehending what he was saying.

She tilted her head back against the tree, not answering him, "I'm tired Kili."

"You can't do to sleep yet Sorcha," Kili said as he began to cut off the bloodied sleeve, "you lost a braid somewhere," he said trying to encourage her to keep talking.

"No, I didn't," Sorcha looked at him and reached out for his braid, "I gave it to you," she touched the braid and pulled it forward gently so Kili could see it.

Kili looked at the braid like it was a foreign object. The braid had been surprisingly well put together considering it was done while they were running, and at the end the silver ring and its charm stuck out against his brown hair. Kili looked at the small she-dwarf in front of him with a look of admiration.

To the dwarves braids were very important things; braids were used as a symbol for one of many things. There was once a time when the charms, like that ones in Sorcha's hair, would be worn by many female dwarves. They were different from the beads the men wore, because while the beads often showed rank, or marked a family name, the charms where given as tokens of thanks. To wear one meant you had done something of great importance for one that had given the charm.

Kili snapped from his trance when he noticed how pale Sorcha had become. He placed a hand against her cheek, "you're growing cold." He hurried himself along as he took off his shirt and began to tear it into a long strip.

"But your shirt," Sorcha asked, "won't you be cold?"

"I have a jacket," he shrugged as he pulled a water skin from his belt, "this might sting a little," he said as he pulled the cork from it. Sorcha hissed as the water washed some of the blood from her shoulder. Kili took his wrist band off and wiped the wound as clean as he could. Eventually the deep incisions of the warg bite were painfully obvious.

"That is going to leave a pretty little scar," said Fili from behind his brother. "Bofur was right when he called you a warrior princess," Fili winked at her, "you're a tough one."

Kili simply smiled in agreement with his brother. He would have spoken had he not been so focused on wrapping the remains of his shirt around her right shoulder.

As Kili covered more of the wound it began to hurt more and more as he wrapped it around her shoulder, "It hurts," Sorcha whimpered. Her bravery was diminishing as the time passed; still she tried to appear as strong as she could.

"We're almost done," said Kili, and in moments he had tied the final knot that would keep the binding secure, "there done."

"You're very tough Sorcha," said Fili, "I don't think I could have handled that as well as you."

"Thank you," she said, but her voice was no more than a whisper on her ghostly pale lips. She knew Fili was trying to help her feel better, and she was truly grateful for his encouragement, but she couldn't find the strength to pair her 'thank you' with a smile.

Kili moved so he was sitting on her right side, "would you like me to fix your braid?"

"If you want to," Sorcha shrugged, "I'm really tired though."

"Maybe when I'm done you can take small nap," Kili said as he moved to take her charm from his hair.

Sorcha reached out with a new found energy, "I want you to keep that," both Fili and Kili were caught slightly off guard by the child's quick response. "Mom said I could give them to someone if they were special to me," Sorcha explained, "you had no braids, so I thought you might like one."

"It's very nice," Kili said as he began to gather all the loose strands of her hair together for him to braid, "thank you."

Sorcha was shaking slightly as Kili worked on her hair. Her eyes were fixed to the tree line, she kept imagining another warg bursting through and catching her again. Fili moved to sit on the other side of her, and between the two brothers Sorcha found a feeling of safety she hadn't felt away from her mother before. It was silent for a few moments longer before Sorcha realized something, "my mother isn't going to catch up with us, is she?"

Kili bit his lip nervously as he exchanged a glance with Fili over Sorcha's head. "I don't know," Kili lied. He knew very well her mother wasn't going to catch up with them; it had been Sorcha's mother that asked him to go save her daughter after she had also been bitten by a warg. Sorcha's mother hadn't been as fortunate as Sorcha had with her wound.

"You don't have to lie to me," Sorcha mumbled, "I know she isn't going to come back."

Neither brother was sure how to handle the sudden sadness in the girl. Both knew that Sorcha's future in The Blue Mountains was now very uncertain. With no parent Sorcha was an orphan, and although any dwarf that could afford to raise a she-dwarf would be glad to raise Sorcha in a new settlement there was very few in the position. Sorcha would have to take up a trade quickly; the life ahead of her had suddenly become much more challenging.

"Are you sure you don't want your charm back," asked Kili as he reached the end of her braid.

"No, I want you to keep it," Sorcha said with the highest degree of certainty that she could afford, "even if you don't get to wear it often I want you to have it."

"I hardly did anything to deserve it," Kili said, but he accepted her answer and finished her braid as best as he could.

"You helped me," Sorcha looked over at Fili for a moment, "I'm sorry I haven't given you one yet."

Fili only smiled down at the girl, "nothing to worry about Princess, Kili did most of the work anyways."

"But you helped me too," she said through a yawn. Sorcha leaned over onto Kili, "can I sleep now?"

Kili looked at Sorcha, who was obviously very tired, "sure, but only tell the others catch up." Sorcha nodded as she snuggled into Kili's side. Kili smiled down at her before he wrapped an arm around her side, holding her close to him.

"Water," offered Fili as he pulled out his water skin, "I figured since you used yours on the girl you might like some now."

"Thanks," said Kili. He drank from it greedily; he was very thirsty from his long run.

"No problem," Fili said, "that braid suits you."

"She is still a child," Kili said with a half smirk at the teasing tone in his brother's voice.

"Doesn't matter, the exchange had a witness. I'll be sure to inform Thorin of the new Lady Durin at once."

Kili jokingly threw the water skin back to his brother. The two laughed at the joke that was running between them. The tone grew suddenly serious though as Fili broke the laughter, "she'll do well."

"As a Lady Durin," Kili asked, choking slightly on air.

"No little brother," Fili said with a smile, "I doubt little Sorcha could do wrong for herself if she tries to make a life in The Blue Mountains. Although I think she would also do very well as a Lady Durin."

"We'll she as she grows," Kili said looking down at the she-dwarf.

"She has you nailed," Fili smiled, "was it the charm?"

Kili fingered the charm at the end of the braid. The person that crafted it had been skilled, for the tiny charm was a detailed arrow. Kili didn't know why Sorcha would have had an arrow as a charm, but she had, and now it was his. "I don't know," Kili said truthfully, not taking his eyes off the charm at the end of the braid.

"Hmm, well I pick you for first watch," Fili said before he stood up, "now I have to go find a good place to sleep."

Kili rolled his eyes, "I had first watch last night."

"Aye, but this is a different day, and so you have first watch again," Fili winked at his brother, "no arguing it's already been decided."

Kili simply shook his head at his brother, but gave little further protest. For Kili found his attention could hardly be taken from the charm for a long period of time. He knew the braid would be seen as more than a symbol of friendship to the other dwarves, but something in him told him that it didn't matter. He knew that even if he had to take the braid from his hair he would keep the charm close.

Kili removed the thought of removing in the charm when Sorcha moved a little in her sleep. He knew that he could worry about that some other time, for now though he just relished in the fact that their company's light was safe, Sorcha was safe.

**Okay so that is the first chapter to the story. I'm guilty of being a really bad pre-reader, but if there is any mistakes please let me know and I'll fix them as soon as I can. Drop me a comment letting me know what you think, I would really appreciate it! ^ ^**


	2. Stories

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for the reviews I enjoyed all of them. I probably should have mentioned I kind of canned the physical age conversions for dwarves and humans. Partially because I found two or three different pages on it, and they all said different things, secondly because I having fun with it, and the age was really only important for the first few chapters, and the rest are just going to be x amount of years later and this is how she has matured, if the age conversion bothers anyone though I can fix it. **

**Also I sort of purposely messed up the time line for The Blue Mountains; I uh…can't really fix that one though. I needed to do it to make it work with everyone's assigned ages while trying to keep the dwarf's ages as rightly a part as I could.**

**I'm also kind of bending it on the plural form of the word dwarf, I'm kind of just using what I'm use to reading.**

**Anyways, thanks again for the reviews! Hopefully this chapter has fewer mistakes.**

It had taken the survivors a few hours to catch up with Fili and Kili. An older dwarf, followed by Bofur and Bifur, walked up to Kili and Sorcha, who were still leaning against the tree.

"My name is Bolmin," the dwarf said through his gray beard, "I'm not a healer by trade, but I know enough to help the girl tell we reach our destination."

Kili looked between the still sleeping Sorcha and the elder dwarf in front of him. The wrapping around Sorcha's shoulder would need changing. Gently Kili shook Sorcha's uninjured shoulder, "Sorcha, this man is here to help you."

Sorcha blinked away the sleep as she looked up to the dwarves in front of them, "good morning," she said as she yawned.

Bofur smiled at the girl, "good morning to you too." There was no time for such pleasantries though, and quickly the elder dwarf had picked up the girl from Kili and walked off to tend to her wounds.

All three remaining dwarves watched as the healer set the girl on one of the larger stones that surrounded what would have normally served as a fire pit. Once they were satisfied with the child's position they all turned to face each other.

Kili looked up at Bofur and Bifur, "I would stand, but I think my legs would give out."

Bofur laughed half-heartedly before he offered Kili his hand. Kili had been right about not being able to stand, his legs quickly buckled when he stood, but he leaned against a nearby tree in time to save himself the fall, "Fili, come over here!"

Fili quickly responded to his brother's call, "you look worse than you did last night brother," Fili said as he helped his brother stand. Fili was adjusting better to the pains in his legs, although they weren't as bad as Kili's since Fili hadn't been carrying Sorcha for the run.

"We lost almost half of the company last night," said Bofur, clearly distressed by the head count.

"What about Glynis," the question had been weighing heavily on both brothers' mind.

Bofur was silent and he side glanced at Bifur, who slowly shook his head. "We'll have to worry about her lodgings later," said Bofur, "for now we need to focus on getting the remaining people safely to The Blue Mountains."

They stood their talking about plans for a few more minutes before Bifur grunted as a sign for them to be quiet. The healer was walking towards them, a nervous Sorcha trailing behind him, "I'm sorry for interrupting, but I've cleaned her wounds as best as I could. They should still leave a rather large scar, and I'm not sure how strong that arm is going to be in the future, but she should be fine for now."

"Thank you," said Bofur, bowing slightly, "you'll be compensated when we reach The Blue Mountains."

The healer only nodded before he turned to walk away, leaving Sorcha standing their nervously shifting on her feet. "Good morning, Sorcha," Kili said to her.

Sorcha looked at them all nervously before she charged Kili with a hug. Sorcha had always appeared to be one for hugs, so normally no one would have noticed. However the hug sparked a look between both Bofur and Bifur, perhaps it was that Kili was the first and only person Sorcha had hugged that morning, or maybe it was the combination of the hug and Kili's new charm and braid, but regardless both felt a slight protective spark within them.

Although Kili was stubborn enough to think he was mature enough to make his own decisions, both he and Sorcha were still young, and neither had seen enough of the world to know the seriousness of the charm in Kili's hair. Kili still had much to learn about his many responsibilities as an heir of Durin, and Sorcha still had much to learn about being a dwarven female. They would never learn those things if they attached to each other so early on.

"How are you feeling Sorcha," asked Bofur, trying to get her attention off of Kili.

"I'm," Sorcha stopped for a second as she looked around at the expecting faces of the dwarves around her. She was looking for the right thing to say in their faces, but she couldn't see what it was. Everyone was smiling at her, and she couldn't pick up any other possible intentions behind the innocent question. "Okay," she finally finished her response while putting on her best smile.

"Well then, it should be about time to move out," said Bofur as he stretched, "we've had about thirty minutes of rest, and we don't know if anything is going to come after those wargs."

"What about my mom," asked Sorcha with a small glimmer of hope in her eyes. Sorcha had faced the fact that her mother might not catch up; she had faced it with Kili before she went to sleep last night. That fact didn't change that she had still clung onto a scrap of hope that her mother was still, somehow okay.

"Sorcha," Bofur's smile dropped, and a small look of pity flashed across his face. It was only for a moment before he hid it again, but it had been too late. Sorcha had seen the look on his face, and she felt the remaining hope quickly vanish.

"Oh, it's okay," Sorcha looked down to hide the tears gathering in her eyes.

This did not escape Kili though, and he kneeled down before tilting her chin so that she was looking at him, "you have us Sorcha, and you'll always have us. Your mother loved you very much, and she wouldn't want you to be upset about this."

Sorcha smiled at Kili, "I know," she hugged Kili before hugging Fili, then Bofur, and then Bifur. Bifur picked Sorcha up and placed her on his shoulders as they began to continue on their way.

Kili moved to walk with Bifur but Bofur stopped him, "I need to talk to you and Fili." Both Fili and Kill stayed back with Bofur as the group of survivors began to continue on their trail to The Blue Mountains.

"She is a fine young lady," Bofur said, gesturing towards Sorcha and Bifur. Sorcha had begun to play with Bifur's thick hair from her perch on Bifur's shoulders. The two brothers nodded, both understood that Sorcha had a spark to her that was truly special. "Now that she doesn't have a last name many are going to try to claim her."

"She is but a baby," said Kili, "there is going to be a long time between now and then."

"Ah, but you're young yourselves. You haven't seen much of how dwarves deal with such things. In Erebor many she-dwarves were promised to someone way before even their twentieth birthday. That is of course with a family to look out for the girl's well-being. There is nothing standing in the way of Sorcha being claimed by any dwarf, besides other dwarves that is," Bofur looked between the two brothers; something was gleaming behind his eyes.

"I don't understand what you're suggesting," Fili grumbled. He wasn't as attached to Sorcha as Kili, but not even Fili wanted to see the girl taken advantage of.

"You should talk to Thorin about putting her in an early apprenticeship, perhaps under you mother."

"What if she doesn't want to be a healer," asked Kili.

"If she apprentices under Lady Durin she'll have a place to stay, and she'll be far too busy to receive attention from anyone but the injured. Plus, Lady Durin would be able to help Sorcha grow to be a proper dwarven lady, which is something her mother would have wanted." Bofur had another reason that he hadn't mentioned to the boys. If Sorcha had an apprenticeship with Lady Durin, than she would have an apprenticeship with their mother. Because of that she would, by tradition, be staying with her, and she would be staying in the Durin household, with both Durin brothers. Bofur knew they would keep the girl close. No dwarf would dare attempt to secure a courtship with Sorcha tell she was away from the Durins, and even after the years of her apprenticeship he trusted that at least Kili would not be willing to let Sorcha far from his sight.

Fili and Kili exchanged glances, understanding that Bofur had a point. "We shall bring it to Thorin's attention when we can," they both said at the same time, since they both had similar feelings about keeping her safe.

The subject had been dismissed after that, although Kili found it pulling on his thoughts often. When it did he found his attention drawn to where ever she had managed to wonder in the company. She spent the day venturing from dwarf to dwarf, telling stories and singing songs. Kili found himself admiring the small child, for where ever she went, she left a trail of smiles behind her. She hadn't ventured back to Kili during the walk, and he found himself wishing she had. He had been this entire journey without her company, although he had seen her in camp, and he had gotten along just fine. Now things were different, he couldn't imagine not knowing where she was for too long.

This carried on for the rest of the day; tell they finally settled down for the night. Bofur, Bifur, Fili, and Kili all found themselves gathered around a fire again once more.

"It looks like it might rain tonight," said Bofur as he looked up at the sky, which had darkened faster than normal thanks to the dark clouds that had crept in, "maybe we should have kept going tell we had found some more cover."

The dwarves had settled in a wooded area, but the tree cover wasn't dense enough to completely protect the dwarves if any rain should fall.

"Too late now," Fili shrugged, "we'll just have to build some shelters if it comes to that. How are you feeling brother?"

"Sore and tired, I've been traveling off of about two hours of sleep," said Kili as he ran his hands through his hair.

"I guess we know who is going to sleep well tonight, regardless of the rain," Fili laughed at his joke, knowing that the reason his brother had gotten so little sleep was the same reason for the surplus of sleep he had gotten.

Before Kili could curse his brother a voice rang out, "dinner!" Sorcha stood outside of their circle around the fire balancing five bowls of stew on her arms. Words of gratitude came from each of them as they took their own bowl from her. Sorcha stood awkwardly with her bowl for a few moments as the others settled down by their fire again preparing to eat.

"Can I eat here with you guys," Sorcha asked. She had always eaten with her mother before she went to sleep, but now she had nowhere to eat, although any of the dwarves would have allowed her to eat with them.

"Of course you can," Bofur said as he began to make a place for Sorcha between him and Bifur. Sorcha smiled as she quickly fell into her place between the two. She looked up and smiled at Kili and Fili, who were sitting across the fire from her. Sorcha had felt a small increase in her own pride that she had been accepted to sit with the warrior dwarves.

"So, Sorcha," said Fili, breaking the short silence that had fallen, "what have you been up to today?"

"I've been having fun! I got to tell everyone all sorts of different stories, and some people even sang with me," Sorcha seemed to think it had been no big deal, but the four around her knew better. After the casualties that had occurred early that morning the morale Sorcha provided was a rather large blessing to the company. Even though they had not heard from Sorcha that day they admired the strong front that Sorcha had been put up that day.

"You know Sorcha," Bofur said, "I've been meaning to ask you about the charms in your hair. I've heard that each charm is supposed to have a story that goes with it. Is that true?"

"Yes," Sorcha smiled, "mother had a box of charms that father had made, and whenever I memorized a new story, or song, she would let me pick one from it."

"Oh really," Bofur was slightly impressed by this, since Sorcha seemed to have a vast collection of charms in her hair, "how many do you have?"

"Sixty-six," Sorcha looked proud as she shook her head, allowing the charms in her braids to cling together.

"Quite and accomplished number for one so young," said Bofur with a smile at the girl's obvious pride in her collection of charms, "I'm curious. What was the story behind the charm you gave Kili?"

Both Kili and Sorcha blushed at his question. Kili had found himself thinking of the braid often, and had been seen tucking it behind his ear subconsciously throughout the entire day. Sorcha however had hoped to keep the secret of the charm to herself. She had not even planned on telling Kili what the charm meant to her, "it's not a story, it's a song."

"Oh really," said Bofur, "which song?"

"Well," Sorcha looked around at all of them, for a moment she had wished she had lied about the charm being a song; perhaps she could have gotten away with telling them a story about an archer from Moria (for which the charm had been a bow).

"It isn't that important," said Kili, "do you have a favorite charm Sorcha?"

Sorcha smiled at Kili, who had saved her from the embarrassing confession. "Yes," Sorcha reached behind her ear and removed a braid she kept tucked away to prevent anyone from wanting to take it, "mother gave me this one especially for the story of The Arkenstone."

"Well, that certainly is a pretty one," Bofur said as he eyed the charm. As dwarves they had all been familiar enough with semi-precious stones to recognize it as an odd section from a labradorite. The stone was small, polished, and white with golden and blue swirls around it, and it was held in place by wire within the center of the ring on her braid.

"It was one of the few charms that mom made herself. One of the men from the city tried to take it once, but mom stopped them. I've hid it behind my ear since," Sorcha tucked the charm back behind her ear once she was done showing it off. "I need to go soon. Bolmin said he wanted to re-wrap my shoulder before I went to sleep tonight."

"You know Sorcha, before you go perhaps you should tell us a story," suggested Bofur, "I mean none of us have heard one from you today."

"Okay," Sorcha nodded, seeming to think the suggestion was a reasonable one, "what sort of story do you want to hear?"

"You said you knew the story of The Arkenstone," said Bofur, "perhaps you could tell it to us."

"But everyone knows that one," laughed Sorcha. It was true, all dwarves knew of The Arkenstone, but all were willing to hear it more than once. After all, stories of treasure were ones that all dwarves loved to hear, as well as being ones they could stand to hear more than twice.

"Doesn't matter lass," said Bofur, "it's a good tale."

"Okay, well," Sorcha looked around to make sure everyone was listening to her. It was something she loved about telling stories, holding others attention. She knew it sounded vain, but she loved knowing what she said could change something as strong as another person's emotion.

"It was in Erebor, which had already become established as one of the greatest dwarven cities. Rivers of gold flowed through the walls of Erebor, and gems sparkled all over. It was said that although Erebor itself had a sky of its own, with precious-gem stars and gold dust clouds all about. All around many had heard of the glory of Erebor, although few could only guess at its true riches from the many treasures that some dwarves sold in the human city of Dale. The city was filled with the songs of a proud and wealthy people that hardly ever wanted. It wasn't till The Arkenstone was found, however, that the true splendor of Erebor was known. The miner, whose name had sadly been forgotten, had been wonderstruck at the glorious stone he had found. Within a cloth he kept it wrapped as he waited for his chance to present it to his king."

By then the dwarves that had been listening to Sorcha had found themselves mesmerized by the she-dwarves story. Sorcha had a certain flair with telling stories. It was one she had learned from her mother, and one she had spent hours trying to achieve. The lights in her eyes seemed to be glowing as she talked about Erebor, as if the glory of it had been shining before her and her voice emitted energy that had their eyes dancing with the same image.

"When it was presented before the king it was called, 'The Heart of the Mountain'. The king fell in love with the raw stone, and soon it was sent off to be shaped so that it would fit in a little notch he had carved into his throne. Word was sent to the kings of men and the lords of elves, and soon they began to flock to the mountain to see what the king had taken to calling The Arkenstone. Not a single one of those that visited could deny the magnificence of the stone that had been shaped by the hands of master gem cutters to be a globe with a thousand facets. Each facet shined with one of the many colors that shined from the glowing center, and if the gem could find no light to reflect it would make its own. The Arkenstone brought Erebor to a glorious height, one which no other dwarven stronghold could ever match. The stone stood as a sign that the Durin's rule was divinely favored, and so above the throne of King Thror of the Durin The Arkenstone stayed, shining as a symbol of the glory of Erebor."

"You tell stories with great passion, Sorcha," Bofur said with a proud smile, "you're a natural in the art of the bard."

"What is a bard," asked Sorcha. Bifur grunted at the light in Bofur's face. Fili and Kili exchanged a look that seemed to day, 'here it goes'.

"My dear little Sorcha, a bard is a keep of stories and songs! Once you could find bards in war camps, keeping the fires burning in the hearts of the warriors. During battle their songs could be heard even above the roar of war. Now you find them in more common places as they share the stories from their travels. Places such as around a fire like this one," there was a certain light in Bofur's eyes as he talked about bards. Something told Sorcha that Bofur himself would have much liked to be a bard.

"One day," started Sorcha as she stood on top of the log she was sitting on, "I'm going to be a warrior bard."

The others laughed at the Sorcha, and she just met their laughter with a pouting look. "Sorcha dear," said Bofur, "a bard you may one day be, but you're much too small to find a place among a troop of men."

Sorcha looked at him darkly, "just you wait Bofur, one day I'll make you eat those words."

Bofur simply smiled at the girl's determination, and for a moment he forgot all about the girl doomed to apprentice to become a healer, "I'm sure you well."

"Here you are," said Bolmin as he approached from behind, "come Sorcha, it's time for me to check your wounds."

"Okay," Sorcha said with a heavy sigh as she jumped down from her perch. "Good night everyone," she said as she following Bolmin to where ever he was taking her. Sorcha had only been gone for a few minutes when she became the topic of conversation at the fire once more.

"Wait, does anyone know where Sorcha is suppose too be sleeping tonight," everyone looked at Kili as his question really hit them.

The truth was none of them knew where Sorcha was going to night, and no one had thought to ask the girl while she had been there. "I'm sure she well come back if she needs a spot," shrugged Bofur, and with that the thought was dismissed.

**Here is chapter two! I already have the next chapter written and ready, I just have to get it typed up, and so it should be up relatively soon.**

**For now though, just drop a comment letting me know what you think. Thanks again to everyone that has already done so!**


	3. Lily Love

**Hi guys! So I just posted the last chapter last night when I started typing this, and I noticed something, I already have over 20 followers. I don't know, maybe I'm new to this thing, or maybe it's just because the Hobbit fandom is really living it up right now or something, but to me that seems really cool to have after only one or two chapter. So yeah, I just want to thank everybody that has reviewed, favorited, or followed. It means a lot, and it makes me work on this story instead of mess around on Tumblr.**

"Now they say when you walk in the planes you can hear them singing," Sorcha said to Bolmin as he finished wrapping her shoulder.

"You tell great stories," he said with a smile that Sorcha couldn't see through his thick, white beard. Bolmin had never been much for talking to others while he worked, that was why he never finished his training as a healer. He could never calm his patient down so instead he became a rock carver, which worked much better with his lack of people skills.

"Bofur said that too. I'm just glad I can be worth something right now."

Bolmin looked at the girl sitting on a low branch in front of him. She didn't appear to be self-conscious about her purpose in the company, but at small moments Bolmin could tell she doubted her worth. "There is a light in you young one," he looked into Sorcha's eyes, "the road ahead of you is cold and uncertain. Don't let that diminish what you have because the world is going to try to take it from you."

Sorcha smiled at Bolmin, "I have to leave my own mark on this world, and I won't give up tell I do." Sorcha looked down at the ground below her swinging feet. At that moment she allowed a little bit of her grief to reveal itself to Bolmin, "I have to for momma."

"I'm sure one day you'll be a symbol of honor to your mother's memory," Bolmin picked Sorcha up from the low branch and set her on the ground, "now off to bed with you Warrior Princess."

"I'm not a Warrior or a Princess," Sorcha protested with a giggle.

"Oh, but you have the grace of Princess, and the bravery of a warrior," Bolmin insisted, "today you've been as brave as any warrior could ever hope to be. You've lost almost everything that you had before this journey, and you don't know what is waiting for you where you end up. And yet, you've handled today better than any of us here could have expected. If anyone in this company that doesn't have the title of warrior deserves it, I would say that it should be you."

"Thank you Bolmin," Sorcha gave Bolmin a tight hug, which Bolmin awkwardly returned. The hug was a quick one though, and soon Sorcha had pulled away and began to walk away, but she turned around to tell Bolmin one final, "good night!"

As Sorcha walked through the camp she looked around at the few fires that people had gathered around. Truth was she had no clue where she was going for the night. During the day she hadn't wanted to trouble any of the dwarves she talked to about something as simple as sleeping arrangements. After walking through the camp she spotted a medium sized rock not too far off from the fires. Sorcha looked around to make sure no one was watching her before she ran for the rock and ducked behind it.

Sorcha got situated as best as she could. She ended up curled in a ball, with her knees pressed tightly to her chest. Her back curved against the rock, and the ground felt hard on her side. She couldn't complain though, since her the only difference between her sleeping arrangements that night and the nights before was that she didn't have her mother. It was then, as she was situated for the night, with her face hidden in her knees that she began to cry.

The tears fell like burning, little lies. For each smile, and story, and every laugh that she forces for the others today a tear fell. She felt like she couldn't let the others see her cry, to do so would be admitting that she had been faking everything for them all day. Eventually Sorcha fell asleep despite her silent tears, but once again she didn't get to sleep for long.

In the middle of the night the storm clouds set in and Sorcha was woken up by a rumble in the sky. The realization that a storm was setting in shook Sorcha to her core. She hated storms, and she had never braved a thunder storm without her mother by her side.

Sorcha sealed her eyes as tightly shut as she could in attempt to block out as much of the incoming storm as she could. She was able to ignore the distant flashes in the sky, but with every clap of thunder that shook the ground she laid on her violent shaking would increase. Her resolve began to crumble as the storm drew nearer, and when the first rain drop hit her cheek she released her knees and began to run towards the camp.

It was late enough that the only one awake would be the night watch, which happened to be Fili. He was sitting under a cover of leaves that he had made for the intended storm of the night, and although Sorcha was running at him he seemed to take little notice. Before she could reach him the rain began to pour, and Fili was blind-sided by a sopping wet Sorcha.

"Sorcha, what's wrong," Fili asked as he hugged she shivering girl. He seemed to take no noticed of how wet she was, but instead the redness of her eyes and the puffiness that surrounded them. Although the rain that seeped from her braids mixed with her tears of fear Fili knew that the girl had at least been crying before she got to him.

Fili lifted her up to his lap and wiped some of the rain from her face, "come now Sorcha, I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"S-storm" she stammered as she shook in his arms.

"Come on, Sorcha," Fili stood with her in his arms and walked away from his cover. He knew he couldn't leave Sorcha, but he also knew he couldn't watch her, since he was supposed to be on guard. He walked over to the shelter he had helped his brother make, and nudged the body hidden underneath the canopy of leaves.

Kili looked out from under the canopy to see his brother holding a shivering Sorcha. He would have laughed at the miserable condition of his brother standing in the rain had he not been so worried for the shivering Sorcha, "what's wrong?"

Fili kneeled, "she is afraid of the storm," he passed Sorcha to Kili. Sorcha quickly clung to Kili, not wanting to be away from someone else for too long.

"Thanks," Kili nodded to his brother before quickly going back under his shelter. Kili pulled the girl close to him and rubbed her back, "it's okay Sorcha, everything is going to be okay."

Another flash of lightening lit the rainy night and another clap of thunder soon followed. Although Sorcha had begun to calm down that loud noise melted away her resolve and she began to shake again.

"Come Sorcha," Kili said as he laid down, pulling her with him, "you must be freezing," he said as he opened his jacket. Kili still hadn't found a replacement for the shirt he had torn to wrap her wounds, and his chest was bare and welcoming to Sorcha. Kili flinched at the sudden wet chill as Sorcha snuggled into his chest. She tried to hug him, but the bandage on her shoulder wouldn't allow her to, so instead she settled to rest it on his slightly hairy chest.

"See," Kili said, once he had adjusted to the feel of her cold cheek against his chest he wrapped his jacket around the both of them, "isn't this better?"

Sorcha only nodded into him as she shivered slightly. They laid like that for a few moments, with Kili rubbing her back gently, and eventually Sorcha stopped shivering. "I don't like storms," she mumbled.

"I can tell," Kili said with a chuckle as he brushed some of her braids away from her face.

"Momma use to sing to me when there was a storm," she said as scooted slightly closer to Kili, "I guess she can't do that anymore. I'm sorry."

"You've been very strong Sorcha, and you have no reason to be sorry."

"But I won't always be able to run to you guys, well I? I need to be stronger, for everyone."

Kili looked down at the now calm child; her comment had given away what some of her tears had truly been about. "You'll never be alone Little Warrior, I'll see to that," Kili thought of the idea Bofur had suggested. Having Sorcha stay in the same house as himself, his brother, and his mother was a thought that appealed to him at that moment more than it had before, "you should get some sleep; you need it."

Sorcha was quiet for a moment, it seemed like she was really trying to sleep, "can you sing to me?"

"I'm not a very good singer Sorcha," sure he could sing with other during a song, but Kili had never been a solo singer.

"Oh," Sorcha sounded very disappointed when Kili told her no. Singing was very important to dwarves. Sorcha could not imagine anyone not singing; unless of course they really just didn't want to.

Kili felt a slight stab at his heart when he heard the sadness that dripped from Sorcha's voice, "I'll sing if you sing with me."

"Okay," Sorcha brightened significantly at the thought of singing with Kili, "but you have to pick the song."

"Sounds fair enough," Kili said as he began to search his memory for a song to sing with Sorcha. He scratched all the songs he sang with his brother, as they were normally the kind of songs you would sing over a pint. He tried to remember the songs his mother would sing to him and Fili whenever they felt bad, but most of those were songs of triumph, sang after a battle, and none of those seemed to fit for the first song he would sing with Sorcha.

He dipped deeper into his knowledge of songs to remember the ones he would hear his mother humming when she was working. Whenever he asked she would always say they were songs that his father had sung to her while he had been courting her. The loss of his father had weighed heavily on his mother, though she never showed it, and those songs were some of the few things she had left to remind her of him. Although she had not taught him all of the songs one stood out from the others, to him the song seemed the perfect choice.

"Ready Little Warrior," he asked as he moved so that they were facing each other. The position that they were in was a very intimate one, as their noses were almost touching, since Kili's jacket didn't allow for much space to be between the two of them. Sorcha's eyes glowed, despite the red, which was fading to pink, that surrounded them. She sniffled a little bit before smiling and giving Kili and encouraging nod.

_Down, down by the sea _

_There is a crown of daisies_

_High, high on a hill _

_My little lily love_

_West wind in your hair_

_Tied up in golden daises_

_She's chasing you down_

_My little lily love_

Sorcha knew why Kili thought lowly of his voice. It was rich but rough, and it had a strong tone that he seemed sort of nervous about. It was nothing like the light, airy tone of her mother's voice, but she liked it all the same. It wasn't till the second verse that Sorcha joined in singing with Kili. Despite how different their voices were they seemed to mesh well together, and so they sang on.

_You hide and seek high and low_

_In every corner of my soul_

_I almost hear the sound of your heart beating_

_Oh, like it's my own_

_My little lily love_

_You hide and seek every day_

_You just get farther away_

The pair looked at each other for a moment before laughing. Kili had forgotten there was an instrumental part; or rather he had forgotten to account for the instrumental part. Normally it would just be skipped if there were no instruments to be played. Kili, however, was not used to singing without instruments and so he had paused for them. They continued laughing for a moment, and Kili had blushed in slight embarrassment. Sorcha seemed to know the song though, and she began to hum the part. Kili smiled and he began to hum with her. Occasionally one of them would let a giggle escape through their humming, but neither let it hinder the continuation of the song. Before either of them knew it the part had finished just as suddenly as it had started and Kili began to sing without Sorcha for another verse.

_What, what kind of world_

_Would take a sweet wild flower_

_And pull it up from the ground_

_My little lily love_

_Oh, down by the sea_

_There is a crown of daisies_

_I'll never forget_

_My little lily love_

Although Kili had started the last two verses on his own they had finished the song together. Both Sorcha and Kili sported the most cheerful of smiles on their faces. Sorcha dug her head into Kili's shoulder and rubbed her forehead against it, "thank you, Kili."

Kili smiled as he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to him, "get some sleep, Sorcha."

"You too Kili," she said as the pair both drifted off to sleep, and neither were woken again that night, even though the storm raged on just outside of their shelter.

**Well there is that! This was actually supposed to be part of the last chapter, but I figured both were long enough to stand on their own. Although I think this is the shortest chapter so far. Anyways, let me know what you think and such. The song I used was called Lily Love by The Civil Wars. I love the song so much, and when I was listening to it I imagined something like this in my head and it was just too cute not to do. The next chapter probably won't be up tell next weekend, just so you guys know.**


	4. Triskelion Horses

**So this was finished much faster than I thought it would be. I also have the next chapter all written up and ready for typing. I feel like I haven't mentioned that there is going to be a lot of music in this story. I mean not every chapter, but I have never written a song into a story before, and I was wondering if, so far, the song lyrics and such weren't mucking up the story.**

**Also, I'm changing the title. I originally picked Toy Soldiers because of a song called To Soldiers by Carbon Leaf. As time goes on though I realized that no one is going to get that, so yeah, I'm changing it to 30 Years in Belegost. Anyways, here is the next chapter!**

"Good morning, Little Lily," Kili whispered into Sorcha's ear. Sorcha stirred only slightly but did not wake from her deep sleep. Kili only smiled as he removed her hand from his chest, and rolled so that he was closer to the side of the jacket that opened. Kili disturbed Sorcha as little as he possibly could as he wrapped the jacket a little tighter around her.

After Kili was satisfied with the position Sorcha was in he left the shelter of the canopy. It hadn't been too long before Sorcha herself woke up. The first thing she noticed was how warm her surroundings seemed to be. While she had been out on the road, and ever since she lost her jacket, her mornings had all been very chilling. Sorcha had gotten use to them, after all it was almost winter, and she could hardly be mad at the weather.

She had yet to open her eyes when she realized she was warm because of a fur, perhaps a blanket. As she opened her eyes though she realized it was a jacket, not just any jacket, it was Kili's jacket. Only question was where was Kili?

Sorcha slipped the jacket on before she crept out from the shelter. The rain had turned the ground into a slippery mess of mud, and Sorcha had to take great care not to slip as she climbed to her feet. She looked around the camp to see that she was the last dwarf awake, meaning someone had allowed her to sleep in.

Kili and Fili were sitting on a log next to the fire pit they had been using last night. They both had two bowls of what I assumed to be some oatmeal, since that was all we had been having for breakfast this entire journey.

"Good morning Sorcha," said Fili with a smile, since he was the first to notice her, "I trust you slept well?"

I nodded in response from the place I was standing in front of the two brothers. It wasn't odd to see them sitting by themselves, it was actually quite the opposite. The two hardly acknowledged another's presence when they were together, unless it was achieve some sort of mischief.

"I saved some breakfast for you," said Kili as he picked up a bowl that had been on the ground between him and his brother. With a wave of his hand he motioned for Sorcha to come join them.

"Thank you," she said as she approached the two she pushed up the sleeves of the jacket that she knew had to belong to Kili. "I'm glad you found another shirt," she said as she reached for the bowl Kili was holding out to her.

"Me too," Kili said with a light chuckle. His new shirt was nothing more than a tan cloth one, but Sorcha had a feeling it was warmed than no shirt at all.

"Would you like your jacket back," she asked as she brought the bowl close, and looked down into the bowl that was indeed filled with oatmeal.

"You can keep it for now, it's colder than normal this morning, because of the rain," Kili shrugged, "I'm warm enough for now."

Sorcha simply nodded, and the three seemed to fall into an awkward silence with her just standing before them. "Why don't you sit with us," Fili said as he nudged his brother's shoulder. The pair scooted away from each other to make room for her, and she smiled at the pair of them. She didn't say anything as she sat between them. She knew if she did it would be obvious that she was stunned they had allowed anyone to join them.

The three sat in silence, but the silence was laced with a certain calm. Although anyone walking by would probably only think it odd that the three most talkative members of their company all sat in silence as Sorcha began to eat her meal.

"You know, this doesn't taste nearly as bad as it looks," Sorcha said with small smile.

"Why thank you," Fili said with a half bow, "I had to make breakfast this morning."

"Fili hates cooking," Kili said with a small smile, and Fili simply nodded to confirm what his brother said.

"I would have cooked," said Sorcha.

"Kili said to let you sleep," Fili said, and although Sorcha didn't understand why Kili jokingly punched Fili's shoulder she could sense there was some sort of joke going on between them.

"It wouldn't have been a problem. I cooked last night. I assumed, since mother was the one that use to always cook, I would be the new cook, or something," Sorcha shrugged, "I should be of use for something."

"Don't be silly Sorcha," huffed Kili, "if you weren't here who else would sing with me?" Kili had whispered the last part into her ear so that Fili could not hear him, causing the tips of Sorcha's ears to turn a light pink.

"What do you want to do when this journey is over Sorcha," asked Fili as he placed a hand on her back to get her attention.

"I don't really know," Sorcha said nervously. She had been avoiding this topic as best as she could with the other dwarves, but she felt like she shouldn't avoid it with Fili and Kili. It wasn't that she felt obliged to tell them; so much as she felt she could trust them with the truth.

"How would you like it if you could stay with us, and our mother, at our uncle's house," Kili asked. He tried desperately to dance around the word 'Durin'. He and his brother had both agreed that mentioning the fact that they were Durin Folk should wait for another time.

"Could I really," Sorcha's voice brightened as she looked between Fili and Kili with big, hopeful eyes.

"Aye, but you would have to apprentice under our mother, Dis," Fili knew that this would be where they would have a problem, if there was one.

"What does she do?"

"She is a healer," said Kili said as he leaned back while balancing on the palms of his hands.

"Well, healing is a good skill for a warrior to have," Sorcha said to herself as she thought about it.

"We still have to ask her, so you have some time to think about it. We just wanted to let you know that it was a possibility," Fili said as he removed his hand from her back.

"Fili, Kili are you ready to travel," asked Bofur as he walked up to them. He paused as he noticed Sorcha sitting between them, "good morning, Sorcha," he said with a smile, while raising an eye brow.

"Good morning, Bofur," Sorcha sounded really happy and that put Bofur at ease. Although he still found the site of the girl sitting between the two boys that normally allowed for nothing between them. That, and the fact that Sorcha was in Kili's jacket, and that Kili still wore a braid, with the tiny arrow charm, in his hair, added to the slight anxiousness that Bofur felt about the increasing relationship between Sorcha and the two Durin boys.

"Yeah, we're ready when you guys are," Fili said and Kili gave Bofur a smile and a thumbs up.

Bofur nodded to them to show he understood before turning to Sorcha, "Sorcha, can you come with me for a second?"

"Okay," Sorcha said cheerfully as she stood from her spot on the log. Bofur however was unreceptive to her cheerfulness though, as it went unnoticed next to the protective glares he was receiving from Fili and Kili.

Their looks had caught Bofur off guard. The two were almost always smiles when it came to others. Even if they were displeased, the only sign they would ever give off was a change in the light of their eyes, but at that moment things were different.

Bofur had been working with Thorin for long enough to have been on the receiving end of the famous Durin scowl, he had even been exposed to one or two from Dis, but never had it had as much raw malice as theirs. The two brothers had almost caused Bofur to flinch with the powerful threat that was held in their gaze. Their jaws had clinched, and brows lowered, Bofur had almost expected their lips to curl and for a snarl to pass from them. Without a doubt the two young Durins had mastered the smoldering glare that went along with their namesake.

As soon as Sorcha turned to look back at Fili and Kili their glares quickly disappeared and were replaced with sweet smiles and the familiar twinkles returned to their eyes. Bofur felt himself shiver at how quickly they returned to normal at Sorcha's attention. "Thank you for breakfast," she said, "do you guys mind if I walk with you guys today?"

"You're more than welcome Sorcha," Fili said, "and of course you can walk with us today. I think we would actually prefer it if you did actually."

"Okay, I'll be right back then," Sorcha said before turning to Bofur.

Bofur looked down at the little she-dwarf. She looked different somehow, her smile was about the same, but there was a shine in her eyes that Bofur hadn't noticed before. Perhaps it had something to do with the oversized jacket she was wearing. The sleeves had come down again, and were covering her hands. The hem also covered her feet, and Bofur felt a small smile creep over his face as he noticed the slight effort she had to put into not tripping over it. "I have something I think belongs to you," he said as he grabbed her hands through the sleeves of the jacket.

"Did you sleep well," he asked her as he led her threw the camp towards the place he, and his brother, had set up a shelter at. Sorcha thought she could see it over the heads of others.

"I slept very well," Sorcha said as they stood a few feet from his shelter. She had been right about the shelter she saw belonging to Bofur and Bifur. The shelter itself was large, and made of a combination of small branches weaved together with leaf litter to form a roof. It wasn't too surprising to Sorcha, since Bofur and Bifur were both experienced craftsmen.

"Good morning Bifur," Sorcha said to Bifur, who was moving around, gathering their belongings together. Bifur looked up and nodded at her as if to say good morning in return.

"Now Sorcha," Bofur said getting her attention, "the other day, after the wargs attacked, a few things were saved from the camp before we caught up with you and the boys. I believe one of these things now belongs to you." Bofur walked over to a bag that was laying against one of the tree trunks they had used to keep up their shelter.

When Bofur handed her the full, tan pack Sorcha looked at it with confusion. She hadn't carried a pack, she knew she would have lost one if she had. Her mother had said they would just replace anything they needed when they reached The Blue Mountains. Bofur nodded at her, encouraging her to open the bag. The bag had been filled of many things, but only one thing stood out as an object of great importance to Sorcha.

On the very top was a wooden box. The box was made of unbleached wood that was pale in color. In the center of the box was a triskelion that had three horses as its prongs. The symbol was one that held much meaning to Sorcha, as her mother had often reminded her of the many different things it symbolized. Perhaps the most important thing it meant to her, for that moment at least was what the little box held inside of it, "our charms."

"Aye," Bofur said before he kneeled by her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I know you mother would have wanted you to have these."

"Thank you Bofur," she said as she fought the tears that wanted to fall from her eyes. She closed the bag and slung it over her shoulder; she looked up at Bofur before she tightly hugged him.

"I didn't really look through the bag once I looked in the box, I figured you might want to do that on your own later," he said as he rubbed her back, "now off with you, before the boys come and get you."

Sorcha smiled, "okay, bye Bofur, bye Bifur!" Sorcha hurried her way through the camp back to Fili and Kili. "Bofur found mother's old bag, and it has all of her old charms in it, see!" Sorcha fished the box from the bag and showed it off to Fili and Kili, whose attention was now on her.

"I'm glad they were returned to you," Kili said with a nod and a smile.

From that moment on that day it had been impossible to separate Sorcha from the two brothers, and the rest of the journey happened in a similar fashion, with Sorcha traveling with only them during the day, and her eating dinner around the same fire as the warriors. At night she slept next to either Fili or Kili, and if it happened that neither had watch Sorcha would sleep between them. No one was blind to the increased relationship between the Durin boys and the young she-dwarf, and it wasn't long before Fili and Kili became Fili, Kili, and Sorcha.

** Okay so there is that. I hope you guys like it still. I'm not sure what this chapter was to be honest, but I felt it was necessary for Sorcha to get the charms, so now she has them. They arrive in Belegost soon by the way. I had planned to actually start it there, but for some reason the introduction demanded I build a relationship between Sorcha, Kili, and Fili before they reached The Blue Mountains.**

** So, drop a comment and such, I have a four day weekend, and since the next chapter is already written up I'll try to get it to you guys as soon as I can.**


	5. Dwalin

** So, here is the next chapter. I tried to stick to the actual history of Belegost as much as I could. It's hard considering the last thing that was mentioned about that is had collapsed into the water.**

"What's wrong Little Lily," Kili asked Sorcha as he felt her shivering. He had been carrying her for most of the morning. During which time her constant shivering had not gone unnoticed by him.

"It's cold here," Sorcha said into the crook of Kili's neck. It had been days since Sorcha had gotten her pack, and they were almost to the ruins of Belegost and the chill of The Blue Mountains had been getting to Sorcha.

The company was headed towards the cliff that remained after Belegost had been claimed by the sea. Some of the outside buildings had remained to be claimed by nature, but Thorin was seeking to reclaim these lands for the dwarves. Perhaps after a while some of Belegost could be reclaimed from the sea.

Kili stopped for a moment before he sat Sorcha down. Fili stopped with the two of them but Kili waved him on, "we'll only be a moment." Fili nodded before he continued to walk. Kili shed the same jacket he had let Sorcha use a few days earlier and he draped it around Sorcha's shoulder. "This should help," he said with a wink.

"But won't you be cold now," she asked as she slipped her hands through the sleeves.

"I'll manage, Little Lily. Don't worry about me." Kili spared her a smile and a wink before picking her up again and returning her to the same spot on her back. Once she was situated Kili ran to catch up with Fili.

"Why don't you have a jacket of your own, Sorcha," Fili asked with a smile as he saw Sorcha wearing his brother's only jacket.

Sorcha blushed before hiding her face in some of the loose jacket collar. She mumbled her incoherent answer in the fur lining of it so that neither Fili nor Kili could hear her.

Both boys smiled realizing the story had to be amusing. One thing the boys had learned from Sorcha during their time together was that the girl suffered from random acts of adorable clumsiness. These acts normally happened at the most inconvenient of times and ended up with Sorcha having to endure with some sort of major embarrassment.

"Speak up, Sorcha," said Kili as he bounced her on his back trying to encourage her to share her story with them, "we can't hear you when you mumble."

"Well, it sort of caught fire one night," Kili and Fili both burst into a fit of laughter. "It isn't funny," Sorcha pouted, "it was an accident."

"I would hope it was an accident," said Fili through his laughter.

"How did you ever manage to catch your jacket on fire so suddenly," asked Kili.

"I was helping cook, and I was trying to lean over the pot so I could stir it. But the rim of my jacket was hanging too close to the fire. I didn't notice till it had already caught most of the bottom hem on fire. I took it off quick enough, but I couldn't put the fire out in time to salvage it."

Fili and Kili had somehow managed to contain their laughter while Sorcha was telling her story, but once she had finished they could contain their laughter no longer. Sorcha huffed, "fine than! Kili, I hope you freeze to death without your jacket!"

"Oh come on Sorcha, lighten up," said Kili as he flashed her the best smile he could muster through his breathlessness.

"Yeah, you'll have plenty of chances to laugh at Kili," Fili chuckled, "like that one time he fell into this really muddy ditch while we were hunting. You should have seen him covered from head to toe in mud, mother was furious."

"How did he fall into the ditch," asked Sorcha with curiosity while Kili gave his brother a warning glance; however, Fili did not pay his warning any mind and continued the story.

"We had been playing a game, and he was running backwards when he tripped over a tree root and fell backwards into it," Fili said with a smile as Sorcha's laughter rang out clear, like a bell.

"You said we weren't going to talk about that," Kili whined.

"Fili, Kili," a strong voice said from the front of the company. Sorcha looked to see a rather large dwarf dressed in a mixture of dark leathers and worn metal.

"Dwalin," Fili's voice was filled with confusion as they rushed to meet with him. At they got closer Sorcha took note of the three rather large weapons he had on him. They looked like two handed weapons, but why anyone would need to carry three Sorcha did not know. She had thought the warrior dwarves she was travelling with had all been true warriors, but not even Bifur, with his rather stand offish appearance came close to the amount of battle experience that radiated from the dwarf before them. It made her nervous to see such a seasoned fighter, but somewhere beneath her nervousness was a slight curious wonder.

"Your company is late," Dwalin said to Fili and Kili, "Thorin sent me to see if you were within a day's walk yet."

"And are we," asked Bofur, who had joined them in their circle in front of the company.

"Less than half a day," Dwalin said with a nod.

"Hear that men," Kili called to the other dwarves in the company, "tonight we feat in Belegost!"

A small cheer erupted from the company, as everyone was ready to finish their journey, and the even the remaining ruins of Belegost sounded like a paradise to them. Sorcha looked on from her place against Kili's neck with a slight smile. The girl had taken a habit to hiding there when she was sleepy, or when she was nervous, although that hadn't been the case tell just then.

It wasn't Sorcha that Dwalin had noticed at first, but instead the braid that had slipped from its place behind Kili's ear. However, once his eyes had been drawn to that it wasn't long tell his eyes found the girl hiding in the crook of Kili's neck, behind a small curtain of his hair. "And who might this be," Dwalin asked as his eyes scanned what could be see of Sorcha.

"Ah, Dwalin, it's my pleasure to introduce Lady Sorcha," Fili said in a regal manner.

Dwalin took a step forward, towards Kili and Sorcha, "it's been a long time since someone has been able to place themselves between Kili and his reach to his bow."

Sorcha blushed as she looked around the curtain of Kili's hair. Kili sensed her nervousness and his gripped tightened slightly on the bottom of Sorcha's thighs. Fili smiled in amusement at the position Kili and Sorcha had been caught in by Dwalin, who was a close friend of their uncle, Thorin. In truth Sorcha had been acting with more freedom than most she-dwarves were ever given.

Most she-dwarves were expected to keep close to their parents during their younger years. They would only be seen in town close to the heels of their parents while they tended to their chores. Even when they reached maturity a she-dwarf was kept close at hand till she was claimed. This was all on account of the fact that females were rare amongst the dwarven population, as the accounted for less than one third of their population.

If one outside their family line was found holding such a precious treasure as Kili was it often resulted in a fight. Yet here Sorcha was, running about the company as she wished, and being carried about by whomever she desired to carry her at that moment. Dwalin did not know that ever since the death of Glynis, Sorcha had been kept close to the two Durin brothers, besides the rare times she followed Bofur, or when she rode on Bifur's shoulders.

Dwalin raised a brow when he observed the apparent connection between Sorcha and Kili a little closer. Not only was Sorcha wearing Kili's jacket, but Kili had a braid that appeared to be secured by one of Sorcha's many charms. Such blatant displays of affection were highly taboo within the dwarven society, so why was this girl an exception.

"Where are your parents," Dwalin asked bluntly, after all, he had never been one for being subtle.

"Momma died," Sorcha said shyly.

"Master Dwalin is this necessary," asked Fili who had partially stepped in front of his brother and Sorcha. Fili might had said it was because he noticed how uncomfortable his brother was, but it was also because he wanted to protect Sorcha; much like an older brother.

Dwalin looked at Sorcha closely for a few moments, "I suppose not." With that the topic appeared to have been dropped and the company continued on towards The Ruins of Belegost. Dwalin stayed back to talk to Bofur.

"Don't worry about him Sorcha. Dwalin can just be a little harsh sometimes, but he doesn't mean any harm by it," Fili said with a smile.

"Cheer up Little Lily, tonight we feast in Belegost."

"I thought Belegost had been lost to the sea," Sorcha said with a sly smile.

"Some of it was above ground," said Kili with a shrug, "we have been using those buildings, as well as building our own. One day Belegost may be a strong hold again."

"Isn't it dangerous to live to close to the cliffs," Sorcha asked. Every dwarf knew how stable mountains were when it came to oceans.

"We would have plenty of warning before the cliffs fell into the water," Fili confirmed.

"For now it's safe to stay in Belegost," Kili paused for a moment, "or the cliffs that remain of Belegost anyways."

While they were having their conversation Dwalin was learning all he could about Sorcha from Bofur. "Where is her family," was his first question.

"Her mother's name was Glynis. She died during an attack from wargs a few nights ago," Bofur replied.

"And her father?"

"Never came up. I suspect he is dead as well. Sorcha appears to have not known him."

"So she has retained no name other than Sorcha?"

"None at all," Bofur said with a shrug, "the boys are determined to convince Lady Durin to take her in as her apprentice."

"Seems suitable enough," Dwalin observed the two Durin brothers that were walking with the young she-dwarf, "what is her relationship with those two?"

"At the moment they are like triplets," Bofur said with a laugh, "they are together all the time, and they protect her like brothers. You should have seen the look they gave me the other day when I tried to take her away from them for only a moment."

"Or lovers," Dwalin said as he looked directly at Kili carrying the young she-dwarf that was wearing his jacket, which was way too large for her.

"So you see it too," Bofur sighed slightly. It wasn't that he disproved of an eventual match between the two, he just wanted Sorcha to at least see the end of her first forty years before she was claimed.

"The girl doesn't need a mentor, she needs a father," Dwalin stated.

"She needs a mother figure too, Lady Durin would be best for that."

"Aye, but at the end of the day, while those two are out training, is Lady Dis going to knife hopeful pups at the pub?"

"The threat of what would happen would the Durin brothers returned would be enough I'd imagine."

"And if Sorcha is fooled that the stray is decent? What then, if she wished to allow her hand to be available? With no name, no father to stop her, there is nothing else that could be done. She would be lost to them, and she would be lost why, because she is young, and was easily swayed by flowery words and empty promises."

"The Durins would never allow it," Bofur sounded of himself, "they would all grow attached to her. It's impossible not to grow attached to that child."

"Thorin may be king to us, but there is no kingdom here, neither his word, nor the word of any other Durin could stop it. The only way they could was if Thorin took her in as his ward, and if he did Kili would never be allowed to pursue a relationship with the girl," Dwalin gestured to Kili who was telling Sorcha something.

"But who would take her in? My brothers and I are hardly able to pay for ourselves. These men here are all miners, stone carvers, and basic craftsmen, most would let her go for the right price."

"If this child is as charming as you say my brother and I may be capable of housing her," Dwalin eyed the girl closely.

"Balin has never really been found of children."

"She is smart," Dwalin shrugged, "Balin use to court a girl with braids like that. He called them scribe badges, use to say that for every charm there was a story. I imagine my brother is going to want to know the story behind of them, even Kilis."

"She said a few were songs," Bofur corrected Dwalin.

Dwalin shrugged, "doesn't matter, he'll want to know either way. I'll talk to Thorin about it when I see him next."

"But you have hardly gotten to know the girl," Bofur said shocked.

"Any creature that can charm their way between those two so fast, and be considered one of them, has to be charming enough for two old warriors."

They let the conversation slide at that point and continued their walk through The Blue Mountains. Although he had stopped talking to Bofur about Sorcha, Dwalin's eyes never left the girl. She seemed like a happy ray of sunshine in the company despite the solemn mood that had mixed with everyone else's excitement. He had a feeling she would fit in well in a house with himself and his brother. He wasn't sure why, it just felt like a puzzle piece that was about to click into place.

** Finally finished it! I've been working on typing this chapter for like two weeks now, I really have. I just keep getting distracted by tumblr whenever I have enough free time to sit down and work on it. I have the next three chapter written already, I just need to sit down and type them. **

** I hoped you guys liked it. I typed the second half on a computer at school, and I'm not really all that good with their keyboards, so if there is a bunch of typos I'm sorry. Leave a comment letting me know what you think, and thanks for reading!**


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